Event Reminder

The 1913 Strike Singers, pictured above at a recent concert at the Keweenaw Heritage Center (the former St. Anne’s church in Calumet), keep alive the cultural history of the 1913 strike by performing labor songs of the time.  (Photo courtesy of Alice Margerum and the 1913 Strike Singers)

The 1913 Strike Singers will perform this Thursday, August 22nd, as part of the Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Fourth Thursday in History Series.  An excerpt about the event from a KNHP press release is included below.  For more information about this event please contact Keweenaw National Historical Park at (906) 337-3168 or check the web at www.nps.gov/kewe.

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Much has been written about the 1913-1914 Copper Miners’ Strike, but new research has uncovered what strikers and company loyalists sang to raise morale and build solidarity both on and off the picket lines. Join Alice Margerum and The 1913 Singers as they perform songs and poems that were published in local newspapers during this tumultuous period.

This special performance offers a rare opportunity to hear the music of the period. Margerum scoured all the local sources she could find to learn what music people were listening to during the strike. Songs from the Miners’ Bulletin, the official pro-union newspaper of the strike; Työmies, the daily Finnish language newspaper from Hancock; and Truth, the anti-union newspaper of the Citizens’ Alliance all contained songs, verses, and poems. The 1913 Singers, vocalists from the Houghton and Hancock area, have revived these songs, which are an often-overlooked part of the history of the labor confrontation.

This presentation will take place at 7:00 pm on Thursday, August 22, 2013 at the Calumet Art Center, located at 57055 Fifth Street in Calumet, Michigan (at the corner of Red Jacket Road and Fifth Street). It is free and open to the public.